Just Another Holiday
by cheeseandoreosHP
Summary: Because every significant shift in their relationship seemed to happen on Halloween... Every Halloween James and Lily spent together throughout their Hogwarts careers, starting in first year and finishing in their seventh.
1. First Year

**Author's note: Happy Halloween guys! I know it's not until tomorrow, but I wanted to post this in case I don't get chance... It might be absolutely awful, but I'm giving it a shot anyways. **

**There are a couple of OC's in this from another story which, I remembered halfway through writing this, I haven't actually published yet. But it shouldn't be so hard to pick up, and I made sure I stated all the relationships that mattered to this chapter. If there's anything I've missed or that you didn't understand, review and I'll stick it in the next chapter. **

_FIRST YEAR- Lily's feeling touchy, and James isn't at all in the mood for revelry either... _

"So." Mia looped her arm through Lily's. "What are you dressing up as tonight?"

"You know, I'm not sure." Lily feigned an air of great concentration. "But I think I might go as- hmm, shall we say a witch?"

Eliza appeared out of no where, eyes already mid roll. "You're already a witch, you absolute dolt."

"Exactly!" Exclaimed Lily, throwing her hands up in the air. "What's the point of dressing up as some kind of ghost or ghoul when I'm already something from a freak show, at least so far as muggles are concerned?"

"Ah." Said Eliza, groaning in understanding. "I assume Petunia got in touch?"

"Come on, Lily!" Mia said bracingly, nudging her friend. "Get into the Halloween spirit a little bit! When's the next time you'll get to dress up like an idiot without anyone saying anything?"

"Next Halloween, I should assume." Lily said dryly, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"We barely ever get to dress up for Halloween in the wizarding world." Alice added, appearing out of nowhere at Mia's side. "We usually just have a feast or something."

"Yeah, stop ruining it for us stuck up purebloods, spoil sport!" Laughed Eliza. Was it just Lily, or was there something somewhat forced in the sound? She didn't look very happy... The minute they turned away from her, her face seemed to fall into lines of misery.

"There has to be something you want to dress up as." Alice wheedled.

"Why not dress up as Snape?" Eliza said in a would-be-innocent tone, but for the angry undertone. "He _always _seems to look like something from one of those muggle horror movies, don't you think?"

"Eliza!" Exclaimed Mia, but the damage was done. Wrenching her hand from Mia's, Lily turned on her friends, eyes blazing.

"You know what, you can all go and enjoy your party without me! I don't want to hang around with anyone who makes fun of _my friend _just because he's not a Gryffindor."

"Lily!" Exclaimed Alice.

"You know that's not true! It's nothing to do with the fact he's not a Gryffindor!" Mia looked wounded at the very thought.

"No, it's because he's a harsh prat who likes cursing people, and a death eater wanna be." Eliza added. Mia punched her, flashing her a warning look.

"Eliza, I think you'd better-"

"Fine!" Lily exclaimed, turning on her heel and marching away. "That's how you feel. See you all later."

* * *

"You never know, she might pull through." Remus put a hand on his shoulder. He wasn't looking so good himself, having just got back from visiting his sick mother, and James felt selfish for clamming up like this. But Remus had, from what he said, had years to prepare himself for his mothers worsening condition. For James, the news had been completely unexpected. And it was no accident, no natural illness. It made it hard not to completely break down, knowing exactly what- or rather who- had caused this.

"Yeah, the letter said she's alive, right?" Sirius pointed out. "She's not dead- well, not yet."

Remus punched him.

"What?"

"You, my idiotic friend, are completely and utterly tactless. Even Peter would know better than to say something like that!" Remus replied, before looking at the Peter in question, who was eating a lolly. "Um, no offence."

Peter just shrugged and continued to eat from the pile of sweets in his lap, mumbling something through a mouthful of sherbert lemon that might have been 'none taken.'

"Where's Eliza?" James asked, his tone hollow. "I need to- she needs to- she should know what's happened."

"She was going to the library, last I saw of her." Remus sighed. Predictably, James jumped to his feet and raced out of the door before anyone could so much as hand him a tissue to dry the tears still shining on his cheek.

James was hardly the quietest of people at the best of times, but as he burst into the library, he made more noise than a herd of rampaging Hippogriths. The librarian looked up to reprimand him, before seeing who it was and putting her head back down. Evidently, new travelled fast at Hogwarts. James felt his heart sink.

He allocated his cousin sat at a library table, her head bowed as she read the book open on the table, as if concentrating with all her might on the book could disguise the heavy flow of tears pouring down her face.

"Lizzie." James whispered, slipping into the seat beside her. For once, Eliza didn't punch him for the use of her detested childhood nickname. That was how James knew she had already been told...

"I- I know, Jamie." As if James would ordinarily let _anyone _call him Jamie. Final proof, as if he needed it, that it really had happened. The worst thing possible, or at least close. Eliza's head fell forward onto the book, shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs.

"She's strong." James whispered. "She'll pull through, I promise."

"I know that too." Eliza whispered, pushing away from the table and looking him in the eye. "It's just- With Bea with the death eaters now, I just feel- I feel like it's my fault. She was better than a mother to me, too. Yet my own mother might have been the one to kill her."

James flinched at the thought. His aunt (well, his uncle's wife) and cousin had joined the death eaters recently. At eleven years old, he and Eliza had been left to watch as the family fell apart before their eyes, split between the death eaters and the order...

"That is _not _your fault, Lizzie! My mum- she's one of the strongest women I know, alright? She'll pull through. I know she will. And when we're older, we're going to kick some serious death eater butt for this, I promise."

Eliza nodded bravely, offering him a small, watery smile. "Yeah. We'll join the order, become aurors, the works." She took a deep breath. "For now, however- I owe someone an apology. Come with me?"

James nodded, and put a protective arm around her shoulder. With no sibling of his own, Eliza was better than a sister to him. And with a sister in the death eaters and another in the order who refused to have anything to do with her, Eliza knew how to appreciate her surrogate brother better than anyone...

"Lily." Eliza said.

Evans, as James thought of her, was sat with Prewett and Wood, her eyes heavy with tears like Eliza's. The minute she saw them, she sprang to her feet and hugged her friend tight.

"I'm sorry, Eliza, I didn't know. I'm really sorry! I didn't-"

"It's okay. I was angry because- because of the whole death eater thing, and I shouldn't have taken that out on you, or Sna- Severus. I know you're close to him, and that just because he's in Slytherin doesn't make him a death eater in training, but I was mad. So, sorry." The apology was stinted and forced, and Eliza kept stopping, grappling for words or letting out small sobs. But it was something.

Lily blinked, before hugging her again. "If it makes you happy, I'll go to this stupid party. I'll dress up in a stupid costume and overdose on sugar." She said thickly.

James laughed. "Blimey, Evans, never heard you say sorry before. Or you, Lizzie. The apocalypse must be coming if you're handing out apologies."

Eliza punched him,, though she was laughing. "Don't get used to it. And don't you dare call me Lizzie, you miserable toad!"

"That's more like it!" James laughed. "I can stay, if you-"

"Go write home, James." Eliza whispered. "And- and make sure you tell her that if she doesn't get well soon, I'm going to hit her with the curse of the blood sucking bugs. Trust me when I say, it would not be pretty."

"Very fitting, though, considering the holiday. Happy Halloween, Eliza." With a nod to Lily and the others, he ran off to write his letter.

Twenty minutes later, Lily was still staring at the spot from which he had disappeared.

Severus might hate him, and he might be an arrogant idiot with a head too big to fit through the door, but that was a side to James Potter she had never, ever seen before... It left her thinking.

Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.


	2. Second Year

**Author's note: I realise it is 2 days (really? That's so weird... time is going too fast for my liking. Back to school on Monday) since Halloween, and that every single one of my neighbours seems to be celebrating Bonfire Night for some reason (?) but you'll have to forgive me for not finishing this story. I've been too busy to write anything, let alone update. Not complaining though. I've had the most fun couple of days ever... But yeah. I'll try and finish this story as fast as I can. Top of my to do list, along with all my half term homework and finishing my library books, for tomorrow. **

**I don't own Harry Potter. Happy late Halloween! **

_SECOND YEAR: Remus is keeping secrets. Where does he go once a month, really? Wherever it is, his friends are determined to find out. With absolutely no help from Peter, as it happens. Meanwhile, Lily is riding high... Sugar high? _

Frowning, James looked at the empty seat across the table from him and Sirius. Peter looked up from his third pumpkin pasty that morning. "Poor Remus. I hope his mother's alright."

"Oh, I'm sure his mother is fine." Sirius said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"What?" Demanded James.

Sirius shook his head. "Well, it's just- I met his mum a couple of weeks before I came to school. She was at one of those parties my mum and dad are so fond of hosting-" He wrinkled his nose in distaste a moment. "Anyways, she seemed perfectly alright to me."

James frowned. "It's weird alright. I mean, my mum's still slightly sick-" He paused, remembering this time last year, when he and Eliza had received the news Potter manor had been attacked by death eaters, and that his mother had been home at the time. Even now, a year later, the mere thought of it made his heart twist and contract painfully. "But I don't have to visit her every month."

"Hmm." Sirius's brow furrowed, as it only did when he was really deep in thought.

"What?"

"You know, we're his friends! He should have told us."

"Provided there is something he should have told us. Which we're not sure of."

"Oh, there's something to tell." Sirius said ominously. "And we _are _going to find out what it is."

* * *

Lily started the morning feeling down, as seemed to be her Halloween tradition, and a letter from Petunia didn't seem to improve her mood.

"Do you not want to go down to the lake?" Mia asked, sitting down on the sofa next to her.

"No, that's alright. You guys can go."

"Oh, come on, Lily!" Laughed Eliza. "Petunia's a cow, no use crying over her. If you don't want to go down to the lake, we'll go to the library, and if you don't want to go to the library, we'll go to the owlery, but wherever we go, we are going to find something you want to do!"

"Morning all!" Alice emerged from her dormitory, tousled haired and yawning. "Ni- nice day, don't you think? Here, anybody want a chocolate?"

"Why the hell not?" Lily muttered, taking one of the chocolate truffles from the box Alice professed.

"Ah, good choice." Alice grinned. "They're cheap, and full of sugar. Excellent for moody teenagers, so my mother says. And I gotta tell you, Lils, as moody teenagers go, you most certainly qualify."

Minutes later, Lily was hysterically giggling like a lunatic, a ghost mask dangling dangerously from her neck.

* * *

James ran a hand through his hair. "There must be a link." He muttered desperately. "But other than they occur once a month, on the dot, I can't think of anything."

They had tracked everyday Remus had gone missing for the past year, but so far there just didn't seem to be much of a correlation between the dates. It wasn't as if they could walk up to him and say, 'Hey, Remus! We think you're keeping secrets! Mind telling us where you _really _go once a month, if it's not to your mothers?'

"Hmm." Sirius said. "Do you remember when we stumbled across that boggart, when we were snooping in the third floor corridor? It changed into something weird, only I can't remember what. It's linked, though, I'm sure. Merlin, I feel like I'm in an exam or something, with a question I should be able to answer..."

"You know, I realise that, if he's actually visiting his mum and she's ill, it must really take it out of him. But every time Remus comes back, he seems more tired and more ill." James was evidently following his own train of thought, but Sirius looked up at his words, frowning.

Sirius looked across at Peter. "Any thoughts?"

Peter just continued to sit on the window sill, eating from a stack of chocolate frogs. Rolling his eyes, Sirius turned back to the bit of parchment.

"Ugh! We're so close, I can feel it."

With that, they continued to debate, though the answer seemed no closer than it was before.

* * *

"Oh my. What have we done?" Alice murmured in horror, looking at the still hysterically giggling Lily.

"Relax, Al." Eliza laughed, lounging on the sofa and helping herself to another chocolate.

"Oh yes." Said Mia, laughing herself now. "All we've done is created a monster. We should just relax and eat more chocolate."

"It- Really- Must- Be- Halloween." Lily gasped between giggles. They all stared at her.

"Alright." Eliza conceded. "She's completely lost it. Cracked. What do we do?"

"I'm- still- here- you- know!" Lily gasped.

Alice shrugged, and grabbed another chocolate, imitating Eliza in a way that had them all giggling hysterically again, which at least made Lily look slightly less weird for the casual onlookers in the Gryffindor common room. "Relax, El. Have another chocolate."

"Merlin, though." Laughed Eliza suddenly. The sugar high was starting to wear off, though Lily was a lot more bouncy than usual, and could barely sit still. "Can you imagine Lily in a couple of years time, if she drank alcohol?"

Mia laughed. "Or on drugs. Now that would be funny."

"I would _love _to see that!" Alice grinned.

"So- would- I!" Lily chimed in.

* * *

"But where the hell could he possibly go every month, if he wasn't going home?" James questioned, rubbing his forehead as if suffering an unbearable headache, and then running a hand through his hair, which (predictably) made no impact on the mess of black sticking up in every direction but the one it was supposed to go.

"It's not like he could sneak out." Sirius finished the thought. "I mean, the teachers know he goes and everything. And, I mean, he's _Remus! _The only rules he _ever _breaks are the one we talk him into!"

"Ugh. We must've been talking for hours!" James sighed, scrubbing his palm across his forehead.

"Chocolate." Peter said helpfully, tearing open the nearest honeydukes bar.

James rolled his eyes, and he and Sirius continued to talk.

* * *

Suddenly, Peter sat bolt upright. "Guys." He whispered, looking pale.

"Not now, Peter, we're in the middle of-"

"Guys." He whispered again, and his tone of voice was finally effective at capturing his friends attention. "It was the full moon yesterday."

Remus Lupin chose that moment to slip through the dormitory door, looking slightly ill and completely exhausted, but smiling brightly at the sight of his three friends nonetheless. "Anyone for a game of exploding snap?"

"You're a werewolf." Said Peter. James punched him.

"Peter!" Sirius scowled, rolling his eyes and turning to look at Remus, who still stood in the doorway, and looked as if he were about to faint.

For a moment, he looked as if he wanted to scream, or punch them, or burst into tears. Any one of them would have been understandable. But Remus shocked them all. Hysterical laughter bounced off the walls of the dormitory...

Suddenly, all the life seemed to go out of their friend. Sagging, he slumped against the wall and put his head in his hands.

"Yes." He said simply. "I'm a werewolf, and I'm a monster."

"What?" Cried James, jumping to his feet and crossing the room to sit next to their friend. He sent a silent plea to Sirius and Peter, but both seemed too shocked by the sudden mood swing to respond.

"Remus, you know that's not true! You- you could never be a monster. I mean, for goodness sakes, you don't let Sirius kill the spiders that scare Peter!"

"You're not mad? You don't hate me?"

"Two different questions." Sirius had come around enough to help James, even if he did still look a little shell shocked. "I mean, yeah, you should have told us. And I guess I'm a little angry that you didn't, but not too much. What's the fuss about though, really? We couldn't hate you. You're our friend, and that was so completely mushy. How weird is this? You will never hear me say it out loud again, understood? But, Remus, being a werewolf doesn't change anything. It's not like you asked to become one. I didn't ask to become a Black. Peter didn't ask to be addicted to eating food 24 hours of the day. James didn't ask to have a huge, embarrassing crush on Evans, did he? None of us can help who we are."

James cut in, to hide the way his cheeks were turning flame red. "Being a werewolf isn't something you should be ashamed of. I mean, in muggle movies, werewolves are considered pretty cool. It's part of who you are, Remus, and you shouldn't hide that from anyone, least of all us."

When Lily saw James later on in the common room (the effects of the excess sugar just wearing off,) she thought there might be something strange about him. Was he wearing his hair a different way? Had he grown a little taller in the past day? Did he have new glasses?

All she knew was that he looked unusual (and not in his bad way) laughing with his friends. Perhaps it was the way he was with Remus, she decided. Something had changed...

Shaking herself mentally, and turning back to her friends as she tried to convince herself it was just the after effects of an emotionally straining day and a rather large excess of chocolate, she came to the conclusion that the world must be going insane...


End file.
